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Thursday, September 28, 2017

Having value is the essence of
human happiness, and the essence of leadership.In life, we have amusements,
distractions and entertainment galore. In the United States, we have great
wealth – loads of money. And yet none of these things are happiness, nor do
they achieve it. But tour the Silicon Valley corporate landscape and one would
think these things, provided in abundance, are the soul of man.

In 37 years as the head of
Micrel Semiconductor, we achieved the lowest employee turn-over rate in the
industry. We also had the highest “boomerang employee” rate, an unofficial
measure of employees who left the company and came back. We did not pay
salaries above the norm. We did not have lavish bistros on site. We lacked many
common frills.

But we looked after people’s
hearts and made sure they knew they were valuable.

Having Value

To have “value” is to have relative
worth, merit, or importance. It is not an element of one’s self, but what you
provide. We all provide some degree of value to others. A parent is immeasurably
valuable to a child. A professor is very valuable to the college student. Cops
are valuable to anyone craving safety. The plumber who unclogs your toilet on a
Saturday night before your dinner guests arrive has significant value.

Where this becomes important
to business and leaders is that knowing people have value is a source of their happiness.
Leaders that expose the value in each volunteer, soldier or employee give to
those individuals a sense of worth. Common humility prevents some people from
recognizing their own value, but good leaders make certain that same value is
acknowledged. Armored with the exposed sense of value, people then happily push
forward to accomplish great things.

This doesn’t take much. One member
of my team has accomplished some interesting things in his life, including
moving the needle in an area of American politics. Yet one of his most prized
possessions is a tiny plaque given to him by a long defunct organization for
some software he wrote. He cannot recall where he left his $900 cellphone, but
he knows exactly in what room and on what wall that plaque hangs.

The reason it was important to
him was that the honor was unsolicited, and approved by his peers. It was
recognition that he had provided something of value to the organization and its
members. It was confirmation of his value to others.

The Value of Leadership

Providing value is what
leaders do. “Servant leadership” is a school of thought whereby leaders see
themselves as existing to help others. Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express,
once opinioned that organizational pyramids were drawn upside-down – that the
CEO should be on the bottom, tip of the pyramid balanced on his or her head,
and his job was to support everyone else.

Part of this philosophy is
that leaders must help their teams know their value. Every employee, from your
best engineers, to your brightest MBA, to your janitor provides value to
others. Good leaders spend time learning the value of their team members,
openly praising them for their contributions, and demonstrating how their value
aids everyone in the organization.

Interestingly, this is the
most important value the leader provides. When done well and consistently,
employees return the validation. I retired in 2015, but to this day I receive
emails from former employees thanking me for making Micrel a good place to
work, and for making them feel alive, connected, and contributing.Raymond D. “Ray” Zinn is an inventor, entrepreneur, and the longest serving CEO of a publicly traded company in Silicon Valley. Zinn is known best for conceptualizing and in effect inventing the Wafer Stepper, and for co-founding semiconductor company Micrel (acquired by Microchip in 2015), which provides essential components for smartphones, consumer electronics and enterprise networks. He served as Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of its Board of Directors and President since the Company’s inception in 1978 through to its acquisition in 2015.In November, 2015, Ray Zinn published his first book with McGraw Hill: Tough Things First, Lessons On Management, Leadership and Entrepreneurialism from Silicon Valley’s Longest Serving CEO. He publishes regular columns about entrepreneurship and building enduring businesses on Entrepreneur, Forbes Tech Council, FORTUNE and CIO.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Many companies have a board of directors, but we often don’t
think about having a personal board
to invest in our professional (and even personal) life.

I ask you--do you have a group of people around you that are
committed to your success, who push you to keep learning, and who hold you
accountable to your values and purpose?

Few of us do, yet having a personal “board of directors” or “board of advisors”
can be a huge help in our lives.

I
was a non-profit executive for 15 years. From my best boss, I learned how important
a strong board is to the success of an
executive's organization - and, personally, to that executive's success.

Many
times, board members are volunteers. (In large
corporations, some are paid.) Your
personal board would be willing volunteers who are interested in helping you
grow. In a “best case” scenario, your own
board will be a type of support team and accountability group. They will help
you stay true to your values, and encourage you to stay on track with being
your best.

In
a “worst case” scenario, board members will look out for their personal needs, perhaps using you to advance their agendas.

Before
you decide to gather a personal board of directors, you need to formalize your personal
purpose and values, which includes defining your values in measurable and
behavioral terms.This exercise will
chart your course, giving you an outline of how you want to act and who you
want to be in your work and personal life.

Once
your personal purpose and values statement is clear, then you can consider 3-4
people in your network that you may want to ask to be part of your personal board. These people should
consistently demonstrate characteristics such as:

1. Honesty. These people do not hide the truth. They are willing to
share from their perspective, even things that may be hard to hear.

2.Service. These people are inspired by helping others.They would receive joy by being part of such
a group, without looking to gain something for themselves.

3.Success. These people have
modeled success in their teams, businesses, and even personal life. They
demonstrate getting the right things done the right way.

Once
you identify some possible candidates, request 30 minutes of their time so you
can explain why you would like them to be part of your personal board. Share
your purpose and values statement and that you want their help to stay on
track.

If
they are interested, go further with establishing parameters. For example, “I
would need…”

- An hour a month of your tie for a one-on-one conversation by
phone or face-to-face.- You to hold me accountable for living out my values/purpose.- Direct feedback on your perception on how I am interacting with others.- Coaching on opportunities that may help me improve as a servant
leader.

You may want to start with just two board members. As you have
conversations with them, share your hits-and-misses.Ask questions. Moreover, perhaps most importantly, listen intently. (After all, you have identified them as people who can add
value and inspire you to grow.)

Your
meetings can be one-on-one, or sometimes as a group. Either way, you will find benefit if you listen and apply
guidance and suggestions from others who care about your success.

S. Chris Edmonds is a sought-after speaker, author,
and executive consultant. After a 15-year career leading successful teams,
Chris founded his consulting company, The Purposeful Culture Group,
in 1990. Chris has also served as a senior consultant with The Ken Blanchard
Companies since 1995. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including
Amazon best sellers The
Culture Engine and Leading at a Higher Level with Ken Blanchard. Learn from
his blog posts, podcasts, assessments, research, and videos at http://drivingresultsthroughculture.com.
Get free resources plus weekly updates from Chris by subscribing here.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

A business is a reflection of its leadership. How we choose to take charge shows up in company culture, for better or for worse. This is demonstrated in the research, but it also makes logical sense. Ruling with an iron fist inevitably leads to employees reporting low job satisfaction, high turnover, and poor performance. When leadership encourages employees to schedule routine fun throughout our days, weeks, months...everyone’s productivity and engagement levels significantly improve.

In my new book, The Power of Having Fun, I outline the importance of discovering your “Oasis” in each of the major sections of your life (Personal, Family, and Work). By Oasis, I’m simply referring to a moment of fun in your life—a refreshing respite necessary for rejuvenating your psyche as you crawl through the desert of modern work life. It’s a welcome vision of a sparkling blue pool, palm trees shading a soft cabana, and fruit juice and ceviche by the truckload. Best of all, these moments are not a mirage. They are real and soul-refreshing.

How Does the Oasis Idea Apply to the Workplace?

A Work Oasis is how you go about taking meaningful, bite-sized breaks during your normal work schedule. Whether you work in a multinational behemoth with tens of thousands of employees or you’re at a small start-up, the Work Oasis is vital to you and your team’s productivity. Most often, these are micro-Oases (the plural of “oasis,” seriously!) that occur a few times in each workday. Occasionally you or your company may want to consider also a “next-level” hiatus throughout the day-to-day hustle.

While the employee is ultimately responsible for taking breaks, the leadership of the company and mid-level managers can do a lot to make these happen. They can make employees feel confident and empowered to take a mini-oasis. Leading by example, talking about the shift to more meaningful breaks, and scheduling longer monthly breaks will set the wheels in motion.

Time is Money

Instituting daily, weekly, and monthly breaks is an investment with a small upfront cost. Some C-level execs may intuitively see the value of adopting a culture that incorporates more fun. Some may need a little convincing. Let me help you out.

Let’s consider what you might stand to lose. Let’s imagine that your best sales rep, an earning machine that used to burn the midnight oil for you begins the rapid descent toward total burnout. They become unresponsive. They start calling in sick. Next thing you know they are fielding offers from fun-loving competitors and, just like that, they are gone.

What is the cost of that shakeup? Thousands of dollars? Tens of thousands? Those hiring, firing, transition, and retraining costs, not to mention possible headhunter fees, will add up faster than a math professor counting cards in Vegas.

Next, consider how you might benefit from a 2 percent increase in productivity due to implementing the Oasis principle. Based on field experience, I would estimate that the boost from taking small, meaningful breaks is closer to 5 to 15 percent. But 2 percent is a nice, safe, conservative estimate. This would yield one extra workweek of gained productivity from every employee, every single year. What’s the ROI for that kind of a boost?

Also weigh the impact of new referrals from both potential customers and employees. Your team is the greatest group of potential advocates—or detractors—your company can have. Imagine a plethora of people who continually rave about your company to others because you’ve made it so simple for them to enjoy a workday! That’s the kind of marketing goodwill no PR company can buy for you.

Getting Into the Rhythm

Most of us are familiar with circadian rhythm or “body clock”. Similarly, in a workplace context, you have an optimal cycle for how long you can work until you need to take a break. A sleep researcher, Nathan Kleitman, gets credit for discovering the “basic rest-activity cycle”—also called the ultradian rhythm.

Ultradian rhythms are shorter, recurrent patterns in our circadian day. Each person has an optimal cycle for how long they can work before needing a break—or a Work Oasis.

Just as each person has unique nightly sleep needs, a person’s Work Oasis needs to vary from around 90 to 120 minutes per ultradian cycle.

Translation: if you’re a person that needs a break every 90 minutes, failing to take a break after that period of time will result in a diminishing return. However, by taking and enjoying your oasis, your body will rest its internal clock, recharge its internal battery, and return to optimal levels of performance.

Amazing, right? Once you discover your ultradian rhythm, you can then build a schedule that supports it. The fastest way to find your unique workday ultradian rhythm is through—you guessed it—experimentation. Encourage your employees to experiment and determine their rhythm too. This will help get the ball rolling on having more fun in the workplace.

Time to Act

If you now see the value in adding more fun to your office environment, create an action plan. If you’re not the one calling the shots (yet), discuss this article with leadership and work together to see the change come to fruition.

Start by scheduling a meeting with your team to discuss the following questions:

1. What are some ways to facilitate our employees taking meaningful, self-planned breaks daily or multiple times per day? (Think of these as occurring every 90 minutes or so, and lasting about 10-20 minutes.)

2. What about on a weekly basis? (Think of these as lasting one to three hours.)

3.What might we do on a monthly basis? (Think of these as lasting a half-day to one day.)

4. What can we do annually?

Wherever you sit on the org chart of your company, you have the ability to affect productive change far more than you realize. On more than one occasion, I’ve seen companies that have changed for the better simply because one employee had the courage to speak up and share something that they learned. That gentle push of the domino started a chain reaction all the way to the top. Even if you don’t influence the whole company, you can certainly influence your coworkers and team and have a little fun for yourself every day.

It all begins with making the Work Oasis an essential part of your productivity strategy.

Dave Crenshaw is the master of building productive leaders. He has appeared in Time

magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have received millions of views. He has written three books and counting, including The Myth of Multitasking which was published in six languages and is a time management bestseller. His fourth book, The Power of Having Fun, is due for release in September 2017. As an author, speaker, and online instructor, Dave has transformed hundreds of thousands of businesses leaders worldwide.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Several
months ago, we took a taxi from our hotel to our client to teach a class about
change. After a longer than normal ride, we realized the driver didn’t know
where to go. Because we didn’t speak the same language as the driver, we found
it hard to communicate that we were going in the wrong direction. After several
failed attempts to find out where we were (including changing taxis), we
eventually arrived in time to teach the workshop. But not until we were
anxious, upset, and worried that we might not make it in time. Just before
arriving, we realized that our little taxi adventure was similar to how people
experience change.

With the accelerated pace of change today, we can all feel a little out
of control, frustrated, and anxious about what is happening in our world—just
like riding in the back seat of a taxi in a foreign city. Why? Several reasons.First,
it feels different when we are receiving versus leading change. When we are the
recipient of change, we don’t always get to lead. Consequently, are we
confident in the “driver” of the change? Do we feel like we’ll reach our
destination using the most direct route? Or is it more like our taxi
experience—do we feel lost and unsure about where to go? To some it feels like
they’re being taken for a ride, while others wonder “Are the only options to
suffer or sever?”

Second, do leaders of change share ownership
and accountability? Do they allow employees out of the back seat and into the
front seat? Do they engage all of those effected by the change in planning an
effective route to get everyone to the correct destination? Are employees
allowed to influence the speed of the journey? And are all passengers confident
in the leaders’ ability to get them where they are going? In some of the change
initiatives we have seen, people have told us that riding in the back seat of
the change would be an improvement. Their reality is that they feel like
they’re locked in the trunk getting banged up, flailing around, and getting car
sick from smelling the fumes.

And third (just to take the metaphor a little further), who gets access
to the keys of the change vehicle? Are employees expected to just receive the
change from those above, or do they get to take ownership? Do leaders give responsibility
but then micromanage every move by taking the wheel out of employees’ hands if they
aren’t driving quite right?

Buy-in, commitment, and
accountability for change is dramatically different depending on where people
sit in the car and if employees think they have some control over the outcomes.
Announcing the change and hoping that people will voluntarily change behavior
(a typical approach we see a lot), or mandating the change and expecting people
to comply (an approach we see even more) never works. Why?

Niccolo Machiavelli, the Italian historian,
philosopher, and writersaid: “There is nothing
more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous
to handle than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies
in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders by all
those who could profit by the new order. This lukewarmness arises from the
incredulity of mankind who do not truly believe in anything new until they have
had actual experiences with it.” If we are not careful, it would be easy to label
Machiavelli as a change pessimist. Phrases like “nothing more difficult,”
“nothing more doubtful of success,” and “nothing more dangerous” could easily
discourage the most courageous of heart. Why would anybody embark on such an adventure—no
matter how bright the change vision may be? Yet careful analysis of the Italian
politician’s insights could also yield a less pessimistic and a more realistic
view of change. Yes, it’s hard; there are enemies to change; and it’s going to
take effort to overcome the “lukewarmness” of the status quo. But the real
secret to change is getting people out of the back seat (so to speak) and
engaged in the process. Changing seats changes employee’s view. And when they
can see and influence the direction, speed, and process, most employees will want
to be part of the new order of things.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

A
few of summers ago, I hiked the ancient Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail
across Spain. It was the best month of my life for many reasons. Along with a
lot of other great things I got by walking almost 500 miles, it also taught me
some valuable lessons in leadership.

One
lesson came as I stopped for lunch in a café in one quiet, small town and sat
by a window while I ate a sandwich. The only sign of life outside was three
older men sitting in plastic chairs in the shade in front of a house. They
didn’t seem to be talking or doing much other than just sitting next to each
other watching pilgrims go by. I supposed it was a better pastime than being
inside watching television alone.

A
couple of other pilgrims who had just finished eating left the café. They
looked around for a yellow arrow and, when they didn’t see any, decided to go
to the left. Instantly, the three men sitting in the shade started yelling and
pointing to get the pilgrims’ attention. They were pointing them in the other
direction to show them the correct way to continue on the Camino. The pilgrims
stopped, said thank you and turned to follow the men’s directions.The old men waved them on and bid them
farewell with a “buen camino.”

The
speed of their reactions made me think these three men did this regularly. Then
it dawned on me these men weren’t just people watching. They were waiting for
these opportunities to redirect lost pilgrims. They were perfectly positioned
across the street from the only café in town. The corner they were on would
have been an ideal place for a painted yellow arrow corners like that usually
had. The suspicious part of me wondered if these guys were sitting in front of
the arrow to obscure it so their help would be needed.

I
finished my sandwich a few minutes later. As I walked out, I too looked for an
arrow, and when I didn’t see one, I purposely went the wrong way. Once again,
the old men leapt into action and pointed me in the other direction. I thanked
them and they wished me a good walk. I smiled as I wondered how many times they
had done this ritual before.

As
I walked on, that interaction made me think about how I offered and received
help in my career. I loved giving advice. If someone sought my advice, I took
it as a sign of respect. It gave my ego a boost. It made me feel helpful.

On
the flip side, however, I realized I didn’t ask others for advice very often.
If I didn’t know something, I would rather figure it out myself. I didn’t want
to show weakness. I didn’t want to bother other people. And if people gave me
unsolicited advice, I would often be defensive, and take it as criticism. Far
from welcoming help from others, I pushed it away.

A
light bulb went off with me that told me to be more welcoming of help from
others at work for three reasons:

1.I actually need help
sometimes.
I have a lot of expertise and experience, but I don’t have all the answers to
all the problems and opportunities that arise at work. Whenever I can swallow
my pride and ask for help, I can make better decisions.

2.It makes others feel
good to help.
When I do ask for help, I don’t only benefit from the assistance I receive, I
also make the helper feel good. That helps me build a stronger relationship
with the person helping me. The person helping me is investing in my success.
That can help me get their support in the future. I am also giving them the
same ego boost and sense of value I get when I provide help. Simply by enabling
others to grant the gift of help, I am also giving a gift.

3.I should model the
behavior to others.
As a leader, I would be showing the value of welcoming help. It would empower
me to demand that people on my team also welcome help. If I modeled that
behavior, I could make it explicit in
their goals and expected competencies.

Great
leaders are always looking to improve themselves. Sometimes that starts by
asking others for help.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

More and more companies
recognize the importance of engaged, fully developed people as employees, and
are working to build a “Whole Person Culture.”Health and wellness programs are a good start, but the way in which
employees interact with their leaders and one another trumps perks and
benefits. Transparency, candor, compassion, playfulness, ongoing face-to-face
feedback, connection, mutual respect and genuine affection are newcomers to
old-school organizations. This desire to embrace the whole person is admirable,
however at the same time, when it comes down to it, an organization must also
take care of the organization itself, or none of us have a place to go every
day.

How can an organization
develop successful products or services while also nurturing human beings,
flesh and blood, not just business plans and KPIs? How can we care for the
whole person AND meet the organization’s goals? And what does “the whole
person” mean, given that we don’t all want the same things?What is the protocol when special
circumstances surface?

Think agility.Think conversations.Think flexibility.Think customization, just
like organizations do for their clients whenever possible.

Here are a few examples:

1.
A new mother, chose not to disconnect entirely from work during her maternity
leave. She wanted to stay involved to some degree and reminded her colleagues
that it was okay to give her a call if they had a question.On the other hand, another employee, a new
father, disconnected entirely during his paternity leave.No one called him and he didn’t check
in.Which was fine. He chose unplugged
and she chose partially involved. Same policy, different interpretations. A
conversation with their leaders and teammates ensured that expectations were
clear up front.Both got what they
needed and came back to work energized.

2.
What about snacks in the communal kitchen/cafeteria?Those more health conscience want bananas,
string cheese and hardboiled eggs.Others want milk duds and doughnuts. What is an organization’s
obligation?The solution may be to stock
a variety of snacks, erring on the generous side, and suggested that if
someone’s “must have” snacks aren’t on the list, they are welcome to bring their
own.

3.
A woman going through IVF talked with her boss and colleagues about her need
for flexibility.They were happy to
accommodate her as she went through the process, however they declined her
request that the company educate all employees on what IVF is like and what to
say and not to say.

We tend to think that
everything is about us. It isn’t. And as John Ruskin said, “When a man is
wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package.”As a teenager, I remember being told, “The
world doesn’t owe you anything. It was here first.”That may seem harsh but it has served me
well. Employees can and should expect reasonable accommodation, but should also
realize that they may not get everything they want. If everyone did, the
chances of working for a successful organization would likely be nil.

I believe that whoever
cares the most wins and it’s important to recognize that what’s going on in our
personal lives- our marriages,
children, illnesses, pregnancies, aging parents, the death of a beloved person
or pet, not to mention any number of celebratory or heartbreaking events we
cannot always foresee and that are not spelled out in a policy - will at times
complicate our work lives.But any
organization that has tried to meet everyone’s needs appreciates the truth of
this quote: “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of
the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the
time.”

Since blanket policies
don’t work for everyone, we need emotionally intelligent leaders who can handle
variances from the norm. What if an employee would prefer something that is not
spelled out in a policy? What if something happens that’s not on this piece of
paper?You’ve got to talk it through
instead of defaulting to the knee-jerk concern that if you do this for one
person, you’ll have to do it for everyone.Not everyone wants “that”, so no, you won’t.And what we want is never simple.Sometimes we no longer want what we thought
we wanted and sometimes we want what we thought we’d never want. Other things are
clearer.

We want to bring our
whole selves to work.We want to carry
ourselves around with us all the time.Our real selves.We want to live
our lives in full.To pretend that
what’s going on in our personal lives can be boxed, taped shut, and left in the
garage while we are at work is hogwash. It seeps in everywhere. Who we are is
who we are, no matter where we are.Sometimes
we need help from our employers as we navigate a personal challenge.

So how can
organizations care for the whole person and the organization?Ask individuals what that means to them and,
if at all possible, make it so. Have the kind of conversations we all long for
and have a right to expect.

Fierce conversations
are an effort to understand—first of all, for yourself—something that is worthy
of your pondering. They are deeply probing explorations. Speak about the things
you want to understand. Most people want to share journeys of this kind. Forget
about being clever or impressive. Forget about persuading others to your
view.Saying something louder doesn’t
make it true.

We want conversations of the quiet kind, where no one
tries to outtalk everybody else, where we really ask and really answer. Where
we come out from behind ourselves into our conversations and make them real. Where
relationships are enriched rather than depleted.Where we are glad for what we contribute to
the subject and for what we take away. In a “Whole
Person Culture” we have face-to-face conversations where we learn what is
needed, help when we can, decline when we must.

You don’t need permission.Just do it.

Susan Scott is a best-selling
author, popular and sought-after Fortune 100 public speaker, and renowned
leadership development architect.

Susan
Scott founded Fierce,
Inc. in 2001 after 13 years leading CEO think tanks, more than 10,000 hours
of conversations with senior executives, and one epiphany: While no single
conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a business, or
a life—any conversation can. In 2002, Fierce Conversations — Achieving Success at
Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time, was published in 4 countries and,
shortly thereafter, was listed on The Wall Street Journal and UPI best seller
lists, and was one of USA TODAY’S top 40 business books of 2002. She recently
released a revised and updated version of the book. Her much anticipated
second book — Fierce Leadership: A Bold Alternative to
the Worst “Best” Practices of Business Today was published September 15, 2009.
In its debut week, the book was listed on The Wall Street Journal and The New
York Times best seller lists.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Ask any manager and
they’ll agree that people issues are some of the most important ones they face
in their day-to-day routine. What can an organization do to assure they’ve got
great practices?The following are nine
essentials that must be in place to ensure success.

1.Corporate
culture. Whether an
organization realizes it or not, it has a culture. Elements that define your
culture is leadership style, communication, the work environment – formal or
informal – and how mistakes are handled.Culture sets the tone for everything you do and everything you stand
for.Leaders matter in any organization
because they are so visible.Be
conscious about the culture that you set for your organization.Manage it through your culture and your
actions and hire staff who will fit it.

2.Strategic
staffing. A key success
factor for any organization is having the right people in the right jobs. Hire
for attitude and train for skill. Know your culture, have clearly written job
descriptions, and train your managers to interview so they can find people who
will be successful in their jobs and in your organization. Follow best
practices, such as checking references to be sure that you bring in the right
people.

3.Welcoming
new employees. There is
a wonderful time between when you hire a new employee and when the person starts.
It’s an opportunity to reinforce how glad you are that they accepted your
offer.Have the hiring manager send a
welcoming letter or e-mail before they start. Be ready and carefully plan out
their first week.Meet with them, take
them to lunch, introduce them to co-workers, assign a co-worker to be their
mentor and have all of their resources (phone, computer, e-mail address) ready
for them.

4.Employee
engagement and retention. Engagement
and retention are inextricably linked.Focus groups and stay-interviews can reveal why people want to come to
work every day.Build on those reasons
to encourage excitement about your organization. Don’t forget rewards and
recognitions programs. The most incredibly affective recognition strategy is
saying thank you – letting employees know you appreciate them.It costs nothing and can have a huge payoff.

5.Total rewards programs. Rewarding employees goes beyond wages.
It includes indirect compensation such as benefits, rewards and recognition,
and flexibility. Your total rewards package should link to your recruiting
strategy as well as your goals and objectives. These programs should be
compatible with your culture, appropriate for your workforce and industry, and
be fair and equitable both internally and externally. Communicate with your employees
and make sure they understand that their benefits and other indirect programs
that you offer are part of their overall compensation package.Take the time to educate your employees about
their benefits.They will be very
grateful.

6.Employee development. Development helps employees to be
effective in their current jobs and prepare for future opportunities that help
the organization to grow.Training,
coaching and mentoring, and stretch assignments are just some of the ways to
develop employees. Development opportunities must align with the company’s
mission, goals and objectives, so use measurements, benchmarks and metrics to
assure they are.Giving your employees
the opportunity to grow and succeed is a good value proposition and will help
you to grow a successful company.

7.Performance reviews. Performance reviews are just a part of
performance management – an ongoing process of planning, continual monitoring
and frequent feedback.Managing
performance is crucial to employee motivation and feedback is an integral part.
Feedback lets employees know they are making a contribution and doing things
right.Make sure expectations are clear
and don’t assume your employee’s know them.Performance reviews should focus on outcomes and results.

8.Positive employee relations. Policies communicate expectations and
create the framework for fair and respectful treatment. They assure consistency
in making decisions while recognizing that each situation is unique and
requires flexibility.Benchmark with other
companies in your community and industry to understand best practices, but develop
policies unique to the needs of your organization and your employees.Communicating with employees is critical to
positive employee relations.With
communication methods changing rapidly with technology and social media, it’s
important that you deliver messages in a method in which your employees like to
receive information.

9.Ending the employment relationship. Even in a culture with positive employee
relations and frequent, open communication, employment relationships end. If the
company is initiating the termination, it’s important to be fair and
consistent.Consider how similar
situations were handled in the past.Consider the individual’s tenure and history.Review your policies, but don’t forget to use
judgment.Keep other employees in
mind.Good performers want to work with
other good performers.After a layoff,
the employees who are still employed are also impacted, often being asked to
take on more work and responsibility.Regardless of the reason for the termination, even voluntary
terminations, treat the employee with dignity and respect.Former employees may turn into future employees
or they may recommend others with great skills to meet your future talent
needs.

About
the authors: Cornelia
Gamlem and Barbara Mitchell are influencers to the HR & Business
Communities. They’ve taken their collective years as Human Resource
professionals and consultants and shared it in The
Big Book of HR. They’ve also written The
Essential Workplace Conflict Handbookand collaborate on a weekly blog,
Making People Matter. For more
information visit www.bigbookofhr.com.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Leadership
is in the midst of a major makeover. The identity of an organization is
shifting away from the CEO; elements of control are being willingly transferred
to the employee, with empathetic and individualized attention being paid in
order to increase engagement. Greater internal transparency is leading to more
peer-based relationships and a flattening of the corporate hierarchy. The
enterprise environment is evolving and in order to succeed within it leaders’ styles
are changing too.

In
the emerging “Future-of-Work” settings, it is employee egos that matter, not
the CEO's. Identity is increasingly being defined at the company level, and as
a manifestation of the corporate culture that is rising in importance. The
culture is more an expression of the values of the composite body of the
workforce than the identity of the leader of the company--although these are
certainly best aligned.

The
shift marks a significant move away from Henri Fayol's autocratic “command-and-control”
type management theories and methodologies which have been in vogue since the
early 1900s. These were coupled with Frederick Wilson Taylor’s popular scientific
management theory that focused on financial compensation and the concept that workers’
motivation resulted from payment for volume-based repetitive task work.

Numerous
research studies since then highlight compelling evidence of a number of other
important—and non-monetary—levers available for motivating workers and
improving generally low productivity levels. Autonomy is a key one that impacts
leaders’ positions and roles which has been found to be a critical component
for increasing employee engagement and thence productivity, as noted already by
Peter Drucker decades ago, especially in relation to knowledge workers.

Another
factor relates to the fundamental essence of the employer-employee relationship
that is evolving as empathy becomes a key characteristic of new leadership. At any
level of the organization, leaders can develop a new, positive dynamic by focusing
on each employee’s personalized needs, demonstrating respect for the employee
and allowing trust to build, thereby increasing engagement as well.

With
a talent-focused, individualized approach, each worker’s contributions are
recognized and supported, and their opinions more valued and decisions
followed. As a result, there is movement along the employer-employee continuum with
responsibility and accountability shifting towards the employees. A trust-based,
reciprocal relationship changes the nature of interactions and alters the bond
with a consequent recalibration.

Acknowledgment
of the individual embodies the philosophy behind the “bring your whole self to
work” concept. Employees are encouraged to show up at work in the fullness of
who they are, more disposed to engage when they can be comfortable and open. Their
reciprocal acceptance of others is expected as well. This attitude from leaders
promotes an inclusive environment in which they themselves are integrated at
the core and from where they lead.

At
the same time, the advent of the Internet generating almost ubiquitous
accessibility of data caused the collapse of the “information power pyramid”
where those previously at the top of corporations who had the most information
were able to wield the most power. This leveling of this pyramid has been
reflected within the internal corporate playing fields.

In
parallel, in a fast-evolving, technology-rich marketplace, flexibility is
essential and expertise is increasing its weighting relative to tenure with
authority being assigned accordingly. As a result, certain leaders within an
organization may be defined temporarily on a project basis depending on specific
business needs, with responsibility being distributed to different employees to
lead particular teams over time. The consequence is a more flexible and fluid
concept of leadership.

Greater
transparency is also both causing and promoting less stratified corporate
structures, further changing the focus and scope for leaders. Previously, they
could control most of what was presented to the public about the company,
whether through advertising, press releases, newsletters and other corporate
communications.

Now,
social media and other applications and platforms have enabled
everyone—especially customers—to voice their opinions publicly about business
decisions and performance as well as the organization’s products and services.
Greater exposure of company information dictates that core messages, which
communicate the essence of the corporate culture, values and vision, be
consistent. So leaders are now tasked with ensuring the same vision, values and
cadence of communications are shared clearly internally and externally.

Wider
data dissemination has also created the expectation of employee involvement at
all levels of the organization, including participation at every stage of the
process. This prospect offers opportunities for more peer-based interaction and
a better flow and exchange of information and ideas. There is now a more equal
give-and-take between workers and leaders, further reducing the tiers of
internal operational dynamics and helping dissolve barriers between departments
and divisions enhancing corporate agility.

Overall,
the effective transformation is from fixed, highly-structured and
tightly-controlled tiered pyramids of accountability to flatter, broad umbrella
frameworks that empowered employees work under, enabled to be responsive to the
needs of the evolving marketplace. Leaders manage from within as integrated
members of the corporate community not lofty, distinct and distant figureheads.

However,
these new circumstances are not so simple to adjust to. Directing from the top,
issuing instructions, even ordering people to work on strictly-defined tasks in
standardized ways can be much more straightforward than dealing with employees
on a personalized basis. Adjusting for each person and engaging them from a
more equitable position takes attention and sensitivity. However, research such
as Gallup’s new State of the American Workplace report (2017) indicate the adjustment
is undoubtedly worthwhile and energy well-spent.

This
is an opportune evolution. Empathetic environments, energized by leaders
whose purpose is to catalyze and enable engagement by treating people
individually with respect, are a welcome change as the foundation of the emerging
workplace. In tandem, the new leadership styles are also able to generate much-needed
boosts to productivity levels yielding better corporate results.

and minimize the
disruption in the transition to the new work environment.Wade is an authority on the wide-ranging
Future-of-Work issues impacting companies – such as attracting, engaging and retaining
talent, workplace flexibility, Millennial demands, purposed-driven culture, new
latticed and diversified career paradigms and more.She is the 2015-17 President of the New York
City chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).Wade holds a BA from Oxford University in
Oriental Studies (Chinese) and an MBA from INSEAD.